孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
病客吟
A Sick Traveler's Chant
|
主人夜呻吟 皆入妻子心 客子昼呻吟 徒为虫鸟音 |
A husband moans in the night and Each groan pierces his goodwife's heart. A traveler groans all day and The bugs and the birds chirp back. |
|
妻子手中病 愁思不复深 僮仆手中病 忧危独难任 |
A wife takes the sick in hand and Fearful suffering slips away. Servants take the sick in hand and Fear of dying alone is overwhelming. |
|
丈夫久漂泊 神气自然沉 况于滞疾中 何人免嘘� |
This husband has long been a wanderer And his vigor is naturally deep. But when he is bound by sickness, well, Who is exempted from sighs? |
|
大海亦有涯 高山亦有岑 沉忧独无极 尘泪互盈襟 |
Great oceans also have their shores. Tall mountains also have their foothills. Suffering on your own has no bounds When the dust and the tears stain your clothes. |
-- 孟郊
废话
Meng Jiao seems older than the last time he was sick on the road. Less self-pity and more all-encompassing sympathy. Rather than the poem being only about himself, it includes all wives and husbands and wanderers.
I can only guess, but this seems a later, more mature poem. And so it is surprising that, coming after his love affair with the willow-branchless lady, he is still his first wife's husband in his mind. In spite of death, he keeps his first love. And in spite of unreciprocated love, he keeps his second. He treasures his loves.
The unidentified character in line 12 is possibly illegible in the scrolls.